NOTES --
Selections 01-06 are from F. A. Dahlgren's musical drama "Värmlänningarna" (The People of Värmland), which Peterson's company frequently performed. Selections 07-11 are also by Dahlgren, who contributed seven songs to Peterson's first songbook, published in 1908. Selections 12-24 were recorded by Hjalmar Peterson as part of the "Swedish Potpourri" that he released in 1916 with piano accompaniment and in 1917 with orchestral backing. Selection 25 was sung by members of Peterson's company.

Swedish-American audiences were mainly interested in theatrical productions dealing with Swedish country life such as the popular musical "Värmlänningarna" (The People of Värmland). The libretto for "Värmlänningarna" was written by F. A. Dahlgren. The music was written by Andreas Randel or adapted from traditional sources. This six-act melodrama, written in 1846 and set in the province of Värmland, was a love story about a young peasant couple who, with considerable difficulty, overcome hostile parents and local convention. Audiences identified closely with the hero and heroine, seeing in the plot the sorts of difficulties familiar in their own lives.

Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fredrik_August_Dahlgren says: "Dahlgren is best remembered for writing two Swedish folk songs. He and Anders Fryxell wrote the lyrics to Ack Värmeland, du sköna (O Värmland, you lovely). He was the sole author of Å jänta å ja' (And the girl and I).[1] Dahlgren also wrote the musical drama "Värmlänningarna" (The People of Värmland), a popular work for over one hundred fifty years." Fredrik August Dahlgren … was a member of the Swedish Academy (1871 - 1895), graduate of Uppsala University.

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About Me

I'm a retired English, journalism and cultural studies teacher at Springfield College in Illinois (acquired by Benedictine University and subsequently closed). I coordinate jam sessions for the "Clayville Pioneer Academy of Music" at Clayville Historic Site and the Prairieland Strings dulcimer club, and I sing in the choir and the contemporary praise team at Peace Lutheran Church in Springfield. On Hogfiddle I post links and video clips for our sessions and workshops on the mountain dulcimer (a.k.a. "hog fiddle"), as well as research notes on folklore and cultural studies, hymnody and traditional Anglo-Celtic and Scandinavian music. I also posted assignments and readings in my interdisciplinary humanities classes. The Mackerel Wrapper (now on hiatus), carried assignments and readings for my mass comm. students. I started teaching b/log when I chaired SCI-Benedictine's assessment committee, and reopened it as the privatization of public schools grew increasingly troubling and closer to home.